cabinet Archive

I thought perhaps today I would do a quick story on someone I’ve never really written about before… me. As most people who visit this site know, I am the owner/operator of TheLair.me, but in my spare time I like to do a lot of other things like modding systems, building MAME cabinets, and pretty much anything else that has to do with electronics and PC’s.

Today i’d like to show you guys my latest MAME creation. It’s a sit-in rocket cockpit MAME cabinet. It will be sporting a Thrustmaster HOTAS flight stick, a gaming chair complete with 5.1 surround sound and active vibration, subwoofers, and a lot more once it’s finished. I went green on this PC build to save energy and be more efficient so I’m using an Intel Atom D270S mini-motherboard, 120GB Crucial SSD, 700 watt illuminated Apevia power source, and a Zotac GeForce GT 610 PCI graphics card. I’ll also be using a lot of illumination including fans and other stationary neons.

So far it’s been coming together pretty much how I wanted it to. It’s been too cold to paint the outside, but once I do i’d like to have someone airbrush the outside with perhaps a Halo theme of some sort. I was thinking of making it look like one of the Marine drop ships. The system runs well and plays everything up to and including PS1 and N64 without any slowdown. Once I seal off the top/front of the cab, the shelf with the PC and lighting on it will be covered with plexiglass and a swinging “hood” that you can see through so I can open it up easily if I need to get in there. Plus I think it’s cool that when people ask me whats in it I can just “Pop the hood”.

There are a few things I haven’t quite figured out yet. The door for instance. I was originally thinking of making some kind of sliding apparatus or possibly even a Lamborghini style door, but I think it would be too heavy and might prevent it from fitting through a standard size door frame. I may just go with the rod and curtain after all. I’d also like to cut a few holes in the back and add some more big fans to emulate thrusters. There’s still a lot to be done but I think it looks pretty good so far. Please keep in mind a lot of these pics were taken before everything was fitted, sanded, and primed. The images where the cab is white are the more recent images that are lacking any gaps and mistakes in the woodworking. Feel free to leave any comments or feedback as it is appreciated.